Total sales fell 3%, to $202.8 million, in 2003, according to preliminary results released by supplementary educational publisher WRC Media. Operating income rose 24%, to $24.5 million. The company's net loss was $7.8 million in 2003, compared to $95.4 million in 2002, a figure that included a $72-million charge because of a change in accounting.
At the company's four operating segments, sales rose at one group and fell at three. Sales at Weekly Reader rose 3.1%, to $46 million. Sales fell 2.1%, to $56.7 million, at American Guidance Service; declined 6.6% at World Almanac Education, to $49.7 million; and dropped 5.6%, to $50.5 million, at Compass Learning.
In a personnel move, veteran direct-marketing executive Neal Goff is joining WRC's Weekly Reader division as executive v-p for marketing. He will be based in Weekly Reader's Stamford, Conn., office.
